Overview

Dentistry is a science and art concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the teeth and adjacent tissues, and the restoration of missing dental and maxillo-facial structures. Every dental restorative procedure requires the use of materials. This chapter introduces the restorative materials used in clinical dentistry. Dental biomaterials can be broadly classified into ceramics, polymers, and metals. Many restorative materials are fixed permanently into the patient s mouth or are removed only occasionally for cleaning. The materials have to withstand the effects of a most hostile environment. Temperature variations, wide variations in acidity or alkalinity, and high stresses all have an effect on the durability of restorative materials. Most restorative materials are managed entirely by clinicians and their assistants. Some are, however, associated with the work of the dental technologists. Successful restorative dentistry is dependent on the correct selection of material for a given application and the ability to carry out manipulative procedures to arrive at the optimum properties of the material.

5.1 Introduction

Dentistry is a science and art concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the teeth and adjacent tissues, and the restoration of missing dental and maxillo-facial structures. Every dental restorative procedure requires the use of materials. As the former makes up the bulk of clinical work, a dentist spends much of his/her professional career handling materials. The success or failure of restorative treatment...